Brutus is trying to divide the indivisible, to make murder into something holy. Ceremony in this case is a way of avoiding reality, of sanctifying disorder. When after the murder Antony asks for “reasons” why Caesar had to be killed, Brutus assures him that there are plenty, “[o]r else were this a savage spectacle” (3.1.225)—as if his good reasons made the death of Caesar less savage.
